Former WSGO Host Chetney Dies

OSWEGO — For more than 40 years, Robert H. Chetney spent part of his Sundays hosting the Irish-American Hour on WSGO. Chetney passed away earlier this month at the age of 83.

Word of Chetney’s death comes to us from William Schleinitz III, who served as Chetney’s producer at WSGO. Schleinitz told CNYRadio.com, “the show was popular both in the U.S. and Canada.” And he didn’t need a ratings book to know that, “because I engineered the show for a number of years and he read listener letters on the air” from both sides of the border.

Schleinitz also pointed out Chetney’s obituary on oswegocountytoday.com, which describes the World War II veteran’s extensive involvement in the community. If you don’t recall Chetney’s show on WSGO, you may have spotted “for sale” signs around Oswego with Chetney Real Estate listed as the broker — Robert and his wife Helen (who passed in 2004) created the agency in 1975.